Page 30 of Savage Seduction

I slide the chair away from her desk and sit. A few seconds pass as Catherine hesitates, but then quickly sits across from me in the other chair. "Please let me first say… I swear to you on my grandmother’s grave that I have never, and would never, steal from this institution. You have to believe me."

"I know," she says. "And I do believe you, but this is where it all becomes… odd."

"How so?"

"The caller said you stole from the Ancient Egyptian display on the second floor. He said that I could find the pilfered goods in your locker."

"My locker? Really? Good God. What the hell is going on here?"

She holds up a hand to stifle my growing outrage. "I took it upon myself to investigate these claims. Sure enough, when I popped the lock on your locker, there it was as described."

"What? But that’s preposterous! I didn’t take anything, I swear."

"The eighteen-inch, solid gold, Sixteenth Dynastic Ankh—from the ceremonial tomb, suggests otherwise."

I stand. The room around me closes in and I suddenly feel it is difficult to breathe. The Ankh? The Butcher was not only trying to kill me and seek revenge for my escape, but also trying to ruin my life… destroying another career that I’d thrown my entire soul into achieving.

"Max?" Catherine stands. "Max? Are you okay?" She reaches out to steady me, and I feel her touch and flinch away. I stagger backward, lose my footing, and land right back in the chair I’d been sitting in.

I lean forward and put my head in my hands. After a fewdeep, calming breaths, I look up into the caring and concerned eyes of my boss.

"There you are," she says. "I thought I’d lost you there for a minute. Can I get you some water?"

I shake my head. "I’m so sorry." I wince as I meet her eyes. "My therapist said I could expect to have panic attacks from time to time… accumulative trauma, blah, blah, blah."

"Your therapist?"

"Yeah." I huff out a shaky breath. "It’s a long story, but something happened a while back. Something I’m still trying to deal with, and, well… the mention of the ankh brought it all back."

"I’m very sorry to hear you’re struggling with something so upsetting," she says. "I didn’t know anything about that, but I did find it strange and seemingly symbolic when the caller mentioned it. My first reaction was outrage of course… you can only imagine being in my place. But the more I thought about it, the more something felt off. So, I checked the security cameras. Can you imagine what I found?"

I search her eyes for an answer but look away. "No."

"Nothing. The cameras had all been disabled."

I turn to her again, eyes wide and mouth agape.

"I knew that would get you thinking like a cop again." She sits back and crosses her arms. "Whoever is accusing you of this, planted the evidence in your locker… I know it. He somehow wiped the cameras. I checked with the security people… all of them are idiots, but they did say that they can be remotely accessed."

"Really? That seems dangerous."

"I know. What kind of dimwitted fool allows remote access to security cameras? They were wiped clean for that entire day." Her voice sounds angry. "The ankh was recovered, so I am going to break the rules and not even fill out anincident report."

"Oh my god. Catherine, you are a life saver. I am so glad you believe me."

"This can’t happen again," she warns. "Do you understand?"

I nod.

"Get to the bottom of this however you can. Get this psycho ex-lover or whoever is messing with you to cease and desist."

"I can assure you, I’ve never been in a relationship with this psycho. If it’s who I am starting to believe it is, I may be in danger," I say.

"Danger?"

"Yes. I’ve been receiving threats." I shake my head. "I never imagined it would affect my work though."

Catherine’s eyes narrow. "Were you aware of my late husband? About what happened to him?"

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